RISING TALENT 2024: HAIR AND MAKEUP

RISING TALENT 2024

The IF Rising Talent list for 2024 is made up of people we think will shift and lead our industry into the future. Some are newer faces, others have recently stepped into senior roles where they’re now making waves. We think you’ll want to work with all of them. We put this list together through a public call out and extensive insdustry outreach. This year, we had a staggering 692 names put forward. As always, this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of talent that’s out there in Australia.

HAIR AND MAKEUP

CAMILLA LEARY

Camilla Leary is a make-up artist who has been working across the Australian and Canadian industries over the last seven years.

Leary just completed her first season as head of hair and makeup on The Voice Australia, and also worked as key makeup on season one of Heartbreak High for Netflix, head of hair and makeup on Seven’s Con Girl and head of hair and makeup on feature film The Nut Farm.

In addition, Leary has worked with high-profile individuals such as Winnie Harlow for NYFW Tommy Hilfiger, Glen Powell for Anyone But You press days, Karena Evans for the BET Awards and Aaron Sorkin for VIVID. She has also headed up commercials for major brands like Doritos, Johnnie Walker Blue Label and Koala.

Leary’s work also extends to education, conducting workshops and launching major products for The Body Shop and Samsung.

Going forward, Leary plans to split her time between Australia and the US, balancing her work in the film and TV industry with red-carpet and celebrity makeup artistry.

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HELEN TUCK

Based in Sydney, Helen Tuck has been working as a hair, makeup and SFX artist for more than a decade. Her artistic background saw her initially focus on studying traditional art at university, but her passion for makeup, prosthetics and film from a young age meant she made the leap over to studying makeup, and she never looked back.

Tuck has worked as designer on several indie features including Sissy and Ruby’s Choice, as well as Amazon’s The Moth Effect and supervisor on SBS’s recent Erotic Stories. She has also worked in the additional team for projects such as Thor: Love and Thunder, Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Furiosa and The Fall Guy.

Regularly found elbow-deep in monsters and gore, Tuck was also a prosthetics artist on Talk To Me, currently nominated for the AACTA Award for Best Hair and Makeup.

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KATE ANDERSON

Kate Anderson is a hair, makeup and prosthetics artist based in Boorloo/ Perth.

After completing her diploma in makeup, she dived into every screen opportunity, and further studies in prosthetics solidified the industry as home.

Anderson has worked in the makeup team for projects such as The Surfer, Deadloch, Thor: Love and Thunder (The Guardians Drax Team), Stranger Things S4 (Dacre Montgomery), Mortal Kombat, Mystery Road: Origin, and Hounds of Love, for which she received an AACTA nomination alongside Hayley Atherton.

She has recently stepped up to head of department on projects such as He Ain’t Heavy, Sweet As, How to Please a Woman and Itch.

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GEM WOODS

At 11 years old, Gem Woods dreamed of being a makeup artist in TV/ film after watching Beetlejuice. These aspirations were forgotten until she met prosthetics artist Larry Vanduynhove, who was a hairdressing client of hers for three years. He convinced her to leave the salon to pursue her dreams and introduced her to many of her mentors in the Melbourne industry.

Woods went on to study makeup, prosthetics and wigs across Sydney, New York and London, leading to a diverse skillset of hairdressing, wig knotting, wig dressing, character makeup and prosthetics, and a love of period projects and hyper stylised characters.

Her career highlights include studying in London and landing a job on a feature film as an assistant wig knotter, later resulting in another job back in London on Death on The Nile as an artist.

Woods is now based in Sydney, with hair and makeup department credits on projects such as Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Poker Face. She just designed her first TV series, Paramount+’s Paper Dolls.

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BRYDIE STONE

Brydie Stone is a hair and makeup artist who specialises in prosthetics, and has worked in the industry for more than 20 years. She loves being on set making up characters, as well as working off set in prosthetics workshops, fabricating and art finishing.

In recent years, Stone has moved into key and supervising roles, and just completed her first film as designer, Lorcan Finnegan’s The Surfer, starring Nicolas Cage.

Stone’s career kicked off locally and internationally after landing her dream job in the creature department for Spike Jones’ 2009 film Where the Wild Things Are. It has also spanned several George Miller films, including working with Oscar-winning makeup designer Lesley Vanderwalt on Mad Mad: Fury Road and Furiosa, and as key prosthetic artist for Idris Elba’s The Djinn on Three Thousand Years of Longing.

Her credits also include Mortal Kombat, You Won’t Be Alone, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Berlin Syndrome, prosthetics and creature work on Ash vs Evil Dead season 3 and Wellington Paranormal season two, The Great Gatsby, and Australia.